Ed Morse Joins LCM Commodities and Louis Capital Markets as Managing Director and Head of Economic Research !

Louis Capital Markets, a global independent broker-dealer, and its affiliated firm, LCM Commodities, today announce the appointment of Edward L. Morse as a Managing Director, Head of Economic Research.

Dr. Morse joins the firm from Lehman Brothers, where he was Managing Director and Head of Commodities Research from 2006 and where he built a world class research team as part of the #1 ranked Fixed Income research group and participated in the build out of Lehman’s global commodities trading platform. Morse received widespread publicity this year for forecasting the rapid demand destruction caused by high commodities prices as well as for analyzing the bubble-like characteristics of the rise in oil prices toward $150 per barrel.

“Ed is a proven leader in market analysis. This high profile addition confirms LCM Commodities’ commitment to providing our clients with best ideas about market developments,” said Pierre Lacaze, CEO of LCM Commodities.

“Dr. Morse’s appointment also reinforces Louis Capital’s continued expansion of its franchise, offering customers out-of-the-box research and innovative ideas as part of our focus on building strong customer relationships with value-added service,” said Laurent Imbert, Managing Partner in New York of the LCM Group.

A leading analyst of the international oil and gas sector, Morse’s career in energy spans three decades and includes senior positions in business, government, academic and publishing. Before joining Lehman, Morse spent seven years at Hess Energy Trading Co., LLC (HETCO), providing strategic advice to the firm and clients on oil and natural gas market trends. For a decade before then he served as publisher of Petroleum Intelligence Weekly and other industry newsletters published by the Energy Intelligence Group, where had been CEO.

He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University, where he taught for six years before joining the senior research staff at the Council on Foreign Relations. During the Carter and Reagan administrations, Morse held various positions in the Department of State, including Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Energy Policy, the most senior officer with full time responsibilities in energy. He represented the United States at the International Energy Agency, as well as in bilateral energy working groups with such countries as Norway, Japan, the UK, Nigeria, and Iran. Included in his industry experience is a management position at Phillips Petroleum and co-founder of PFC Energy in Washington DC.

In the winter and spring of 2001 Morse chaired a Task Force on Energy Security, jointly sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations of New York and the James A. Baker III Institute, and issued two reports recommending urgent changes in US domestic and international energy policy. He currently is a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Energy & Environment Cooperation with China under the direction of Treasury Secretary Paulson.

Morse is Chairman of the New York Energy Forum and serves on a number of academic advisory boards, including those of the energy programs at Columbia University and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the Oxford Energy Policy Club, as well as a member of the editorial committee of The Geopolitics of Energy and of the journal Oil. He also is a member of the Chairman’s Council of the American Ballet Theatre. Morse is the author of a number of books and dozens of articles on energy, economics and international affairs. He is the recipient of a prize from the International Association for Energy Economics.

The LCM Group is a vibrant and growing global independent broker-dealer providing execution, sales, trading and research services in cash equities, equity derivatives, commodities, foreign exchange and fixed income. Founded in 1999 in New York, LCM has three senior partners, Michael Benhamou, Laurent Imbert, and Patrice Cohen. The firm has offices in New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong and will soon open in Houston. LCM Commodities focuses exclusively on commodity and commodity-related markets, with a special emphasis on swaps, options and exotics in crude oil, petroleum products, and natural gas.

Source: Business Wire, 21 Oct 2008